On Thursday, the screening committee, headed by senior leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, held a meeting.

Mumbai: The Congress is likely to release its first list of candidates for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly polls on Saturday. As per reports, the list will contain around 60 names.

On Thursday, the screening committee, headed by senior leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, held a meeting. Maharashtra in-charge Mallikarjun Kharge, state unit president Balasaheb Thorat, were amongst the senior leaders who attended the meeting.

“Close to 60 names would be declared in the first list by September 14. These names would comprise of sitting legislators and those who came second in the last Assembly election,” The Asian Age reported a senior Congress leader as saying.

On September 12, sources told news agency ANI that the final list of 19 candidates for the Maharashtra Assembly polls had been sent to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi for approval.

Congress’ Eknath Gaikwad had told the news agency, “The Congress will contest on 19 seats in Mumbai whereas the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will fight on seven seats.”

Further, confirming that Congress’ poll pact with the NCP, Kharge had said, “The name of candidates will be finalised in the meeting of the Screening Committee, which is slated to be held on September 14.”

“So far, a consensus has been reached on a total of 61 seats. Some seats in Mumbai have to be discussed with the NCP and the Samajwadi Party (SP),” he said.

Notably, the poll schedule for Maharashtra assembly elections has not been announced yet. A report by India Today said that the Election Commission (EC) will announce the poll dates soon.